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Phillies Activate Ranger Suarez, Johan Camargo From Injured List

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The Phillies made a pair of corresponding roster moves today, per the club. Johan Camargo and Ranger Suarez were activated from the 15-day injured list, while a pair of former number one overall draft picks in Mickey Moniak and Mark Appel were optioned back to Triple-A. Suarez has been an important piece of the Phillies rotation this year.

Through 15 starts, the southpaw has a 4.33 ERA/4.26 FIP in 79 innings, not all that far off from the 109 frames that he totaled last season, which was a career-high. Suarez steps back into the rotation that includes righties Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, and Kyle Gibson.

Appel gave the game one of the feel-good stories of the year when he made his Major League debut. Appel, who turned 31 yesterday, was twice a first-round pick, taken eighth overall by the Pirates and then first overall by the Astros in the following draft. It took until June 29th of this season for the big righty to get his first shot in the show, however.

Appel has now taken the hill four times for the Phillies, including a pair of multi-inning outings this month. In total, Appel registered seven innings of work, allowing just a single earned run on six hits and two walks while striking out three. For now, he’ll return to Triple-A, where he owns a 1.61 ERA over 19 relief outings totaling 28 innings with a 24-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Moniak, the first overall selection of the 2016 draft, has had limited opportunities with the Phillies over the past couple of seasons. This year, he has amassed 50 plate appearances over 18 games of action, slashing .130/.184/.152 in that time.

Camargo returns to take back his roster spot as a key reserve for the Phils. Capable of playing the infield or the outfield, Camargo’s value largely comes from his versatility. He has struggled with the bat, however, posting a 74 wRC+ on the year, which is his highest such mark since his 2018 breakout with the Braves.

Twins Select Caleb Hamilton

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July 16: Scans have revealed a slight fracture in Jeffers’ thumb, per MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park (via Twitter). The Twins backstop will require 6-to-8 weeks for the thumb to heal. The Twins will forge ahead with Sanchez and Hamilton as their catching tandem for the time being.

July 15: The Twins announced they’ve selected catcher/infielder Caleb Hamilton onto the big league roster, just minutes before tonight’s game against the White Sox. Ryan Jeffers lands on the 10-day injured list due to a right thumb contusion in a corresponding move. Minnesota already had a 40-man roster vacancy.

Hamilton, 27, reaches the major leagues for the first time. He entered pro ball as a 23rd-round draftee out of Oregon State University in 2016. Hamilton has spent six-plus seasons progressing up the minor league ladder, first reaching Triple-A in 2019 and logging the past few years in the upper minors. He’s spent this season with their top affiliate in St. Paul, hitting .252/.387/.491 with a massive 18% walk rate. He’s already set a personal-high with ten home runs across 194 plate appearances.

That breakout showing has come with a fair bit of swing-and-miss, as Hamilton has gone down on strikes in 27.8% of his trips to the dish. That’s been a concern throughout his professional tenure. Still, his combination of plate discipline, catching ability and this season’s improved power output will get him a look behind Gary Sánchez on the big league club.

Jeffers is having a decent third season in the majors. The 25-year-old backstop owns a .214/.291/.375 line across 214 plate appearances. That isn’t eye-popping offensive output, but it’s a bit better than this season’s .224/.293/.363 league average for catchers. Jeffers’ greater value is in what he’s provided behind the dish, as he’s a well-regarded defender who has rated favorably by Statcast’s pitch framing metrics this year.

Rays Make Several Roster Moves

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The Rays have made a number of roster moves today. In terms of additions to the active roster, Brandon Lowe was activated from the 60-day injured list and Ryan Yarbrough was recalled from the taxi squad, per Neil Solondz of the Rays (via Twitter). To make room on the 40-man roster for Lowe, centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier was transferred to the 60-day injured list with left hip inflammation. To create the active roster space, Ralph Garza Jr. and Jonathan Aranda were both optioned to Triple-A.

Lowe has been one of the Rays top position players as the organization has surged to prominence over the last couple of seasons. Second base has become a full team effort with Lowe on the shelf. Aranda, Taylor Walls, Vidal Brujan, Yu Chang, and Isaac Paredes all started at the keystone in July. Lowe has been out since May 15 with a lower back injury. Before the injury, he racked up 133 plate appearances with a .212/.293/.415 triple slash line.

For his small part, Aranda stepped in nicely for a seven-game stretch, going 6-for-16 at the plate, striking out three times without taking a walk. It was the first bit of big league action for the 24-year-old infielder.

Yarbrough tossed 34 innings for the Rays earlier this season with a 5.82 ERA/5.35 FIP. The crafty southpaw has been as consistent a presence as the Rays allow over the past five seasons.

In a separate deal, the Rays have claimed Cooper Criswell off waivers from the Angels and optioned him to Triple-A, per Solondz. To make room on the 40-man roster, Shane Baz was transferred to the 60-day injured list. The 25-year-old Criswell made his Major League debut for the Angels last season, making a single start. He has registered a 3.50 ERA through 18 innings in Triple-A this season.

Chase Anderson Intends To Opt-Out Of Contract

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12:10 PM: Anderson has indeed opted out, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter).

8:30 AM: Chase Anderson plans to opt out of his contract in order to become a free agent today, per Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter).

Anderson was a fairly consistent rotation presence for the Diamondbacks and Brewers for the bulk of his career. He has struggled the past two seasons with the Blue Jays and Phillies as he has transitioned into more of a swingman role. The 34-year-old has logged time in the Majors in every season since 2014. He has compiled 190 appearances (176 starts) with a 4.20 ERA/4.66 FIP across 938 2/3 innings over the past eight seasons.

This year, he’s been starting in Toledo for the Triple-A Mud Hens. Across 15 starts and a pair of relief appearances, Anderson has a 4.63 ERA over 70 innings of work. The Tigers have had plenty of rotation issues of their own, but they have yet to call upon Anderson to help fill the void.

AL Notes: Mariners, Athletics, Yankees

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The Mariners have reinstated Carlos Santana from the restricted list, the team announced. In a corresponding roster move, Kevin Padlo was optioned to Triple-A. It’s a good time to return to the Mariners, who are amid a 20-3 run, including an active 12-game winning streak. Santana has appeared in 15 games for the Mariners since being acquired from the Royals, slashing a robust .245/.383/.449 in that time. Elsewhere around the junior circuit…

  • Frankie Montas intends to return to the A’s rotation after the All-Star break, per MLB.com. The right-hander will throw a bullpen on Saturday in the hopes of being ready to make his first start since July 3rd. Montas knows that the sooner he gets back on the hill, the sooner he continues to showcase for a potential trade. “As much as I don’t want to think about it, I don’t know, I think it’s a big possibility that I still get traded,” Montas said, per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle.
  • Vinny Nittoli plans to opt out of his contract with the New York Yankees, per Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter). The 31-year-old right-hander has just one career appearance in the Majors. That appearance came last season with the Mariners, who drafted him in the 25th round of the 2014 draft. This season he has logged 36 2/3 innings in Triple-A with a 3.44 ERA for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Blue Jays Acquire Foster Griffin From Royals For Jonatan Bernal

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The Blue Jays and Royals have agreed to a trade this morning, per Jon Morosi of the MLB Network (via Twitter). Toronto will send right-hander Jonatan Bernal to the Royals for southpaw Foster Griffin.

The Blue Jays have sent Griffin to Triple-A. The southpaw made five appearances in the bigs with the Royals, yielding six earned runs across 4 1/3 innings. He has a 1.93 ERA across 28 innings in Triple-A, however.

The Blue Jays also recalled Jeremy Beasley from Triple-A and designated veteran Sergio Romo for assignment, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com (via Twitter). The 39-year-old Romo made six appearances with the Jays after being cut loose by the Mariners. He fared better in Toronto, though the underlying metrics tell a fairly similar tale. Beasley, 26, has made six appearances for the Bue Jays totaling 10 innings of work with a 6.30 ERA.

For the Royals, this is a sort of paying-it-forward deal, where they pick up a younger arm in Bernal in exchange for a near-ML-ready arm in Griffin. Bernal, 20, has a 5.47 ERA across 52 2/3 innings in Single-A this season, where he is a couple of years younger than the average player.

Padres Targeting Outfield Help Before Deadline

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The Padres have long been expected to look for ways to bolster the offense this deadline season. The outfield looks like a particular area of concern, and AJ Cassavell of MLB.com writes that the club is indeed scouring the market for help on the grass.

San Diego has had a middle-of-the-pack offense overall, entering play Friday with a .241/.317/.374 team slash line. That includes a monster .307/.381/.525 showing from star third baseman Manny Machado, though, and the Friars’ production has been a bit top-heavy. Five players (Trent Grisham, Austin Nola, C.J. Abrams, José Azocar and Wil Myers) have taken 100+ plate appearances and been at least 15 percentage points worse than league average with the bat, by measure of wRC+. That leads to some areas rife for possible upgrades, particularly in an outfield that has been a bottom-ten unit with a .220/.303/.346 showing.

Few outfielders are more obvious trade candidates than Royals left fielder Andrew Benintendi. An impending free agent on a last place club, the 28-year-old looks like a virtual lock to change uniforms over the next few weeks. He’ll be a priority target for multiple outfield-needy teams, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports the Padres are among the clubs with interest.

Benintendi is hitting .317/.386/.401 through 363 plate appearances. He’s only connected on a trio of longballs, but he owns a strong 10.2% walk rate and has punched out in a career-low 14% of his trips. While he’s not making much impact from a power perspective, he brings a disciplined plate approach and makes plenty of contact. Benintendi has also rated well in left field in the estimation of Defensive Runs Saved since landing in Kansas City, and he collected a Gold Glove and finished second in Fielding Bible Award voting at the position last season.

The Friars welcomed back left fielder Jurickson Profar from the concussion injured list this evening, just a week after he suffered the scary injury in a collision with Abrams. Profar will pair with Nomar Mazara in the corner outfield, with Grisham likely to continue as the regular center fielder. Each of Profar and Mazara is having a nice season, but they own more inconsistent career track records. Grisham has had a rough year, carrying a .192/.295/.334 line into play tonight.

Cassavell suggests a center field-capable player might be a target given Grisham’s struggles, although the market for center fielders is quite thin. Oakland’s Ramón Laureano is the top center fielder with a decent chance to be dealt, but he’d require a very strong return with three seasons of club control remaining. Benintendi’s teammate Michael A. Taylor would be a more affordable fallback, although he’s had a generally up-and-down track record at the plate for his career. Benintendi has a bit of experience in center field himself, but he hasn’t logged an inning there since 2019.

Payroll limitations loom over the Padres’ deadline outlook. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently explored, San Diego’s luxury tax ledger is just underneath the $230MM base threshold. The organization hasn’t shown much appetite for surpassing that mark for a second consecutive season, raising questions about what kind of acquisitions president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and his staff may be able to make. Benintendi, for instance, is playing on an $8.5MM salary. Around $3.4MM of that tab will still be owed come the August 2 trade deadline, and assuming that money would push San Diego into luxury tax territory if all else remained equal. Of course, the Padres could try to offload money of their own and/or only deal with teams willing to pay down the salary of traded players if they’re intent on avoiding the CBT.

No player the Padres add from outside the organization will be a more impactful addition than Fernando Tatís Jr. The star shortstop has yet to play this season after being diagnosed with a wrist fracture in Spring Training. He’s set for a step forward, though, as Preller told Ben & Woods on 93.7 The Fan that Tatís was set to begin his hitting progression today (Twitter link). He’ll continue to be reevaluated on a week-to-week basis, but it’s a notable development as he’d long awaited clearance to begin swinging a bat.

Tatís will certainly still need a fair bit of time to build back into game shape, and he’ll then have to embark on a minor league rehab assignment to get his timing down. In the interim, the Friars will continue to split shortstop time between Ha-Seong Kim and Abrams. The former has been the primary shortstop for most of the year. He’s played excellent defense throughout the season, and he’s caught fire of late at the dish. After hitting only .232/.327/.295 in June, Kim owns a .344/.421/.531 mark through the first couple weeks of July.

MLB Makes Counterproposal To MLBPA On International Draft

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10:08pm: In a follow-up piece, Drellich and Rosenthal report a host of additional specifics on each side’s proposals to date. Among the most notable aspects under consideration: the union has proposed to extend the posting window for players coming from Asian professional leagues from the current 30 days to 45 days. Both sides are also proposing the creation of prospect leagues to operate in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela (contingent on U.S. government regulations in the latter nation). MLB’s proposed draft would begin in 2024, while the union has offered to start at some point later in 2023.

Under the MLBPA proposal, teams would be unable to sign players for below slot value but would have the discretion to go above slot. That addresses any concerns the union would’ve had about teams not spending at least their minimum bonus pool. The league’s hard-slotted proposal would prevent teams from going over the allotment, capping overall spending while eliminating the cutting of pre-draft deals.

The Athletic’s piece is worth a read for many more details for those interested in the subject.

9:05pm: Major League Baseball made its latest counterproposal to the Players Association as the sides negotiate the possibility of a draft for international amateurs, report Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. It’s the league’s response to an offer put forth by the MLBPA last week. For the first time, the union showed a willingness to implement an international draft but only with certain conditions such as a higher bonus pool and the exemption of players from Japan.

The league’s proposal calls for a $181MM signing bonus pool for drafted players, according to the Athletic. That’s the same as the league’s previous offer, while Drellich and Rosenthal note the union has been seeking a $260MM pool. There is also a gap between the parties on the maximum signing bonus that would be available for undrafted players. The league is proposing a $20K cap, while the union’s proposal called for a $40K limit.

Additionally, Alden Gonzalez of ESPN reports there’s a discrepancy in slotting between the two sides. MLB is proposing fixed, hard-slotted bonuses for players depending on with which pick they’re selected. That’d differ from the domestic amateur draft, which features a set overall pool of money teams are freely allowed to spread around to draftees. The domestic draft comes with recommended slot values per pick, but teams can and do ignore those recommendations to pay certain players overslot while cutting below-slot deals with other selections. (Teams are permitted to exceed their bonus pool in the domestic draft, but doing so by more than 5% comes with future pick forfeitures no club has been willing to take on). The union, according to Gonzalez, is pushing for a similar soft-slotting system in the international draft.

Of course, the prospects involved are not perfectly analogous. International players would likely be draft-eligible at age-16, while domestic draft prospects must have graduated high school. Domestically, many high school prospects have the ability to play at a major college if they don’t sign with their drafting team. In contrast, most international amateurs won’t have that fallback.

Hard-slotting would keep teams from not offering to spend their entire allotment to take advantage of the players’ comparative lack of leverage, and it’d eliminate the possibility for teams to cut pre-draft deals with prospects. Yet it’d also reduce the ability to go over-slot for top players in the class. The league’s proposals during negotiations in March came with a $5.5125MM value for the first overall pick, for instance. The #1 pick in the 2022 domestic draft comes with an $8.842MM slot value, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com. Last year’s top selection, Henry Davis, signed for $6.5MM.

The union’s desired bonus pool would close the gap between the slot values of the selections between the international and domestic drafts. According to Gonzalez, MLB counters their proposed bonus pool would pay international players $23MM more collectively than what they received during the 2020-21 signing period, making it an economic improvement over the status quo. Of course, one of the trade-offs would be the forfeiture of players’ abilities to choose their first employer. If no draft is agreed upon, the existing system would remain in place. That features hard-capped bonus pools to limit overall team spending, but players are permitted to negotiate with all 30 clubs.

Gonzalez reports some movement the league made in more minor areas than the overall bonus allotment. The league has withdrawn its push for a mandatory one-year suspension for prospects who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs. MLB also proposed that any prospect who submitted a pre-draft physical would have to be offered the full slot value of their selection. Both sides are in agreement that a draft, if implemented, would last 20 rounds.

The parties have until July 25 to come to an agreement, with the draft likely to go into effect in 2024 if implemented. If a draft is agreed upon, the qualifying offer system would be removed, and teams would no longer have to forfeit selections for signing free agents.

Interestingly, there’ll also be a small change for the upcoming domestic draft. Bonuses for undrafted free agents have been capped at $20K in each of the past two seasons, but Kyle Glaser of Baseball America reports that’ll no longer be the case. Any expenditures north of $125K on a non-drafted player would count against a team’s pool limit, however. That’s a return to the pre-2020 setup.

MLB To Pay $185MM To Settle Class Action Minor League Suit

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Major League Baseball is set to pay $185MM to settle the class action lawsuit brought by minor league players nearly a decade ago, as Jeff Passan of ESPN was first to report. Evan Drellich of the Athletic adds (Twitter link) that the league will lift any “contractual prohibitions against (teams) paying minor league players wages” for work outside of regular season play. The agreement is pending final approval from the court.

It’s the culmination of a suit first filed in 2014. Among other aspects of minor league pay, the litigation was concerned with the process of unpaid spring training. MLB came under public fire for arguing for players to remind unpaid for Spring Training as recently as February. That proved unsuccessful, however. The following month, the trial court rejected the league’s argument that minor leaguers were seasonal employees exempted from minimum wage laws.

The case was set for trial on June 1, but the parties came to a settlement agreement in mid-May. Terms were unreported at the time, but the league has apparently agreed to dole out $185MM in backpay. Passan notes that more than $120MM of that figure will be distributed among the class of players involved (with the rest presumably going to court costs and attorneys fees). One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, former minor leaguer Garrett Broshuis, tells Drellich more than 20,000 players are expected to share those funds.

“This settlement is a monumental step for minor league players toward a fair and just compensation system,” Broshuis said (via Passan). “As a former minor league baseball player, I’ve seen first-hand the financial struggle players face while earning poverty-level wages — or no wages at all — in pursuit of their major league dream. For the better part of a decade, it has been my honor to help lead this fight and to shine a light on the unfair labor practices that have long plagued America’s pastime.”

MLB released a statement of its own. “We are only in the second year of a major overhaul of the 100-year-old player development system and have made great strides to improve the quality of life for minor league players,” a league spokesperson told Passan, referencing a 2021 uptick in minor league salaries and this season’s requirement for teams to provide housing to players. “We are proud that minor league players already receive significant benefits, including free housing, quality health care, multiple meals per day, college tuition assistance for those who wish to continue their education and over $450 million in annual signing bonuses for first-year players. We are pleased we were able to come to a mutually agreeable resolution but are unable to comment on the details until the agreement is formally approved by the Court.”

The proposed lifting of the ban on payment outside of regular season play, meanwhile, has the potential to impact countless of players moving forward. Whether and how many teams will begin to pay minor leaguers for things like Spring Training and instructional league is unclear. Nevertheless, the removal of the ban has to be viewed as a win for groups fighting for better pay for minor leaguers, most of whom are not part of the Major League Baseball Players Association and do not have a union of their own.

Rays Activate Luis Patino, Transfer Mike Zunino To 60-Day IL

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The Rays reinstated right-hander Luis Patiño from the 60-day injured list, optioning Tommy Romero to Triple-A Durham in a corresponding move. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, catcher Mike Zunino has been transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

Patiño missed around three months after straining his oblique during his first start of the season. The 22-year-old returns to action with a start tonight against the surging Orioles. Acquired as part of the Blake Snell swap over the 2020-21 offseason, Patiño started 15 of his 19 appearances during his first year in Tampa Bay. He worked to a 4.31 ERA across 77 1/3 innings, striking out a roughly average 22.2% of opponents against a serviceable 8.7% walk rate. Patiño was a bit home run prone, but it was still a promising showing for a pitcher who won’t turn 23 years old until October.

Tampa Bay has been navigating a brutal stretch of health issues on the pitching side. They still have eight pitchers on the 60-day injured list, and three more (Jeffrey Springs, Josh Fleming and Shane Baz) have landed on the 15-day IL within the past week. Fleming and Baz are each set to miss significant time; the former is likely to lose upwards of a month due to an oblique strain of his own, while the latter won’t even throw for at least four weeks after spraining his elbow.

It hasn’t been much rosier on the position player side, as Zunino is one of five regulars on the shelf. The veteran backstop has been out since June 10 with left shoulder inflammation. The club has expressed concern he could be dealing with a thoracic outlet issue, although he’s undergone Botox treatment in hopes of avoiding season-ending surgery. In either event, Zunino doesn’t seem close to a return to the field, so his IL transfer isn’t much of a surprise. He’ll be ineligible to return to the big leagues before the second week of August.

Zunino had struggled before his IL stint, hitting a career-worst .148/.195/.304 through 36 games. That’s particularly disappointing on the heels of a 33-homer 2021 campaign, and he’s headed towards free agency on the heels of what looks like a mostly lost season. The Rays have turned to Francisco Mejía and the recently-acquired Christian Bethancourt as their pairing behind the dish in his absence.

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